If you must file a 2014 tax return, enter the taxes from Schedule H on the
Household employment taxes
line of your Form 1040, 1040NR, 1040-SS, or 1041. You do this because these
taxes are added to your income taxes.

Send one copy of Form W-3 with Copy A of Form(s) W-2 to the SSA, and keep one
copy of Form W-3 for your records. Instructions for filing Forms W-2 and Form
W-3 electronically are available at
www.socialsecurity.gov/employer.

The social security tax rate is 6.2% each for the employee and employer,
unchanged from 2013. The social security wage base limit is $117,000.

The Medicare tax rate is 1.45% each for the employee and employer, unchanged from 2013. There is no wage base limit for Medicare tax. Social security and Medicare taxes apply to the wages of household workers you pay $1,900 or more in cash or an equivalent form of compensation in
2014.

For information about the rates and wage threshold that will apply in 2015, see Pub.
926 (released in December 2014).

A state that has not repaid money it borrowed from the federal government to pay
unemployment benefits is a
credit reduction state.
The Department of Labor determines these states. If an employer pays wages that
are subject to the unemployment tax laws of a credit reduction state, that
employer must pay additional federal unemployment tax.

For 2014, there are credit reduction states. If you paid wages that were subject to the unemployment compensation laws of a credit reduction state, your credit against federal unemployment tax will be reduced based on the credit reduction rate (for example, .012, .015, or .017) for that credit reduction
state.

In addition to withholding Medicare tax at 1.45%, you must withhold a 0.9%
Additional Medicare Tax from wages you pay to an employee in excess of $200,000
in a calendar year. You are required to begin withholding Additional Medicare
Tax in the pay period in which you pay wages in excess of $200,000 to an
employee and continue to withhold it each pay period until the end of the
calendar year. Additional Medicare Tax is only imposed on the employee. There is
no employer share of Additional Medicare Tax. All wages that are subject to
Medicare tax are subject to Additional Medicare Tax withholding if paid in
excess of the $200,000 withholding threshold.

For more information on Additional Medicare Tax, visit IRS.gov and enter
Additional Medicare Tax in the search box.

Employers are responsible to ensure that tax returns are filed and deposits and
payments are made, even if the employer contracts with a third party to perform
these acts. The employer remains responsible if the third party fails to perform
any required action. If you choose to outsource any of your payroll and related
tax duties (that is, withholding, reporting, and paying over social security,
Medicare, FUTA, and income taxes) to a third-party payer, such as a payroll
service provider or reporting agent, visit IRS.gov and enter
outsourcing payroll duties in the search box for helpful information on this topic.

Your paid preparer must sign Schedule H in Part IV
unless
you are attaching Schedule H to Form 1040, 1040NR, 1040-SS, or Form 1041. A paid
preparer must sign Schedule H and provide the information requested in the
Paid Preparer Use Only
section only if the preparer was paid to prepare Schedule H and is not your
employee. The preparer must give you a copy of the return in addition to the
copy to be filed with the IRS.

If you are required to file a 2014 Form W-2 for any household employee, you must also send Form W-3 with Copy A of Form(s) W-2 to the SSA. You are encouraged to file your Forms W-2 and W-3 electronically. Visit the SSA's Employer W-2 Filing Instructions & Information website at
www.socialsecurity.gov/employer to learn about electronic filing.

If you hired someone to do household work and you could control what work he or
she did and how he or she did it, you had a household employee. This is true
even if you gave the employee freedom of action. What matters is that you had
the right to control the details of how the work was done.

You paid Betty Oak to babysit your child and do light housework 4 days a week in
your home. Betty followed your specific instructions about household and child
care duties. You provided the household equipment and supplies Betty needed to
do her work. Betty is your household employee.

Household work is work done in or around your home. Some examples of workers who do household work are:

Babysitters

Drivers

Nannies

Caretakers

Health aides

Private nurses

Cleaning people

Housekeepers

Yard workers

If a worker is your employee, it does not matter whether the work is full or part-time or that you hired the worker through an agency or from a list provided by an agency or association. Also, it does not matter if the wages paid are for work done hourly, daily, weekly, or by the
job.

If you are a home care service recipient receiving home care services through a program administered by a federal, State, or local government agency, and the person who provides your care is your household employee, you can ask the IRS to authorize an agent under section 3504 to report, file, and pay all federal employment taxes, including FUTA taxes, on your behalf. See Form 2678, Employer/Payer Appointment of Agent, for more
information.

Note.(p3)
If a government agency or third party agent reports and pays the employment
taxes on wages paid to your household employee on your behalf, you do not need
to file Schedule H to report those taxes.

Workers you get from an agency are not your employees if the agency is
responsible for who does the work and how it is done. Self-employed workers are
also not your employees. A worker is self-employed if only he or she can control
how the work is done. A self-employed worker usually provides his or her own
tools and offers services to the general public in an independent business.

You made an agreement with Paul Brown to care for your lawn. Paul runs a lawn care business and offers his services to the general public. He hires his own helpers, instructs them how to do their jobs, and provides his own tools and supplies. Neither Paul nor his helpers are your
employees.

You must file Form W-2 for each household employee to whom you paid $1,900 or more of cash wages in 2014 that are subject to social security and Medicare taxes. To find out if the wages are subject to these taxes, see the instructions for Schedule H, lines 1, 3, and 5. Even if the wages are not subject to these taxes, if you withheld federal income tax from the wages of any household employee, you must file Form W-2 for that
employee.

If you have household employees, you will need an EIN to file Schedule H. If you do not have an EIN, see Form SS-4, Application for Employer Identification Number. Do not use a social security number in place of an EIN. The Instructions for Form SS-4 explain how you can get an EIN immediately over the internet, in 4 business days by fax, or in about 4 weeks if you apply by mail. See
How To Get Forms and Publications
for details on how to get forms and publications including Form SS-4. To get an
EIN over the internet, visit IRS.gov and enter
EIN in the search box.

It is unlawful to employ a person who cannot legally work in the United States. When you hire a household employee to work for you on a regular basis, you and the employee must each complete part of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification. You must verify that the employee is either a U.S. citizen or a person who can legally work in the United States and you must keep Form I-9 for your records. You can get the form and the USCIS Handbook for Employers by calling 1-800-870-3676, or by visiting the USCIS website at
www.uscis.gov.

If you employed a household employee in 2014, you probably have to pay contributions to your state unemployment fund for 2014. To find out if you do, contact your state unemployment tax agency. For a list of state unemployment tax agencies, visit the U.S. Department of Labor's website at
www.workforcesecurity.doleta.gov/unemploy/agencies.asp. You should also find out if you need to pay or collect other state employment taxes or carry workers' compensation
insurance.